was on Colbert Nation tonight... I thought oh wonderful. Finally! I, watching from here in Japan. For years I have waited for this schlemihl to give some substantial explanation for his spineless pathetic defense of Al Gore in 2000. Ever since that nightmare I have waited and waited. I would like an explanation from this Harvard law professor that I had respected for years. And then on Colbert NOTHING... nothing. No book. No comment. Nothing... I know he's almost 6 years older than me but still, I want to punch him in the face and yell, "Say something, you b------! Say something!" What happened? How come you turned into such a snail? And why... have you remained so silent on the Gore issue since then?

We are negotiating with the Taliban on the release of five Taliban members from Gitmo. We are also beginning to negotiate removing Taliban members from the NATO capture or kill list, but John Walker Lindh will serve his full 20 years?

And was really ticked off with my coffee this morning when I discovered that Freddie Mac bet against all of us homeowners. They placed bets that will pay off when we don't get our loans written down or modified and then walk away from our homes. Thereby incentivizing themselves to work with none of us ever.

So dear "consumers", understand that none of this is about honor or ethics. Don't burden yourself with guilt and shame over walking away from that impossible life sucking house. The market will have to recover, so just walk and stop doing it to yourself and your family. You are the norm, you will have lots of company, you will be the new market of possible homeowners to tap once the crazy people have been allowed to blow us all up. Just work to keep your family safe in where ever you dwell, and phuck these horrible people.

They took a system that incentivized a good work ethic and a good repayment ethic making homeownership a kind of pinnacle for most of us. We have lived within that market system for generations. When they securitized all of our mortgages though without financial regulations or the regulators to enforce what there was, those who were selling securities needed more mortgages to sell. They didn't care that people wouldn't be able to pay those loans back. They only cared about today and selling the securities to get the big bonus. And that most can't pay, what the market says houses are worth will plummet so that even those of us who can pay are now huge losers too. But they've all covered their a$$e$ with their side bets. They just used all of us first for giant bonuses, and eventually we all had to bail them out, and now they will be okay as they have bet against all of us being able to pull through the market they all created. It's priceless. I am a puppet on their string and nothing more. Nothing that I can do at this time other than walk away from the house when it craters will affect my ability to survive.

They all should have never been bailed out, they should have all gone into bankruptcy and had things sorted out via that system. The only way they were going to stop killing the Goose was if they had to starve to death after killing the Goose. What a mess.

They don't care if the houses completely fall down anymore kdog. You are remembering how things used to be, when the "big boys" cared about the tangible asset that secured everything because when things were bad that was how they would eat. They are all so rich now they are going to eat forever. Who wants to spend the rest of their lives policing all these properties?

The only thing they care about is that the insurance on the mortgages pays and the side bets on the dollars that are leveraged into infinity pay off....which is an impossibility....it can't realistically happen. The snake eats itself starting at the tail when large enough failure takes place. That is why they are all terrified of the Euro failing, that is a quickstart to the snake beginning to eat itself, margin calls take place on things that have been re-hypothecated by so many entities we probably can't even fathom it.

The Street was not regulated, and they never quit making insane bets a 100 times over using assets that weren't even theirs.

that BoA is holding right now. Because he is retired and it is wildly underwater now VA, BoA has to simply take the house back and he only takes half a ding on his credit. They won't process the paperwork though, they don't return his calls, they keep "losing" everything and he has to resend it.

In the meantime squatters moved in. The property has to be in immaculate condition in order for this go smoothly. He spent a couple of months getting the squatters removed. He lives here now. Finally got the squatters out, the placed repaired and cleaned up, still BoA is not processing the paperwork. He got the VA system involved. BoA returned his calls for about a week, and now they are back to not returning his calls. His blood pressure is going through the roof. He is an old soldier. It was horrible for him when the marriage crashed and the house could not be sold for what was owed on it. He has barely survived with his soul intact working this take back deal. He has failed, just ask him, and BoA plays him and plays him and even tells our own government programs to phuck themselves. It is horrible and he will have a heart attack soon if he can't develop a phuck them all attitude. He can't win in this, and he never was going to.

Then again, what do you do? He receives a retirement. What if the house ends up trashed and someday BoA does end up having to actually care about the house? Would they be able to sue him for the trashing of the home and take his retirement?

They are destroying the incentive to be a homeowner in our culture. And I guess so phucking what. I was always a big fan of yurts anyhow. I just couldn't deal with all the laughing at me :) I also always wanted to live in a tree house too :) There's just less cleaning needed without all these spare rooms that we keep stuffing things we don't need into :)

he shoulda just forgot BofA, stopped paying, and worked out a sweetheart rent deal with the squatters, found renters, or just signed the house over to the squatters on a cocktail napkin. Whats the downside there?

And their consumer protection laws, your friend should check into it. LINK
My state is correct, but I just Googled it, so verify.

Look at my state Texas, even if there is a judgement against you, and that's a big if, they can't come after your assets or your wages.

And to me, if you are going to ding your credit to that degree, no reason to pay any other unsecured debt. If paying unsecured debt is going to keep you under water, don't to it, you'll recover quicker from bad credit then insurmountable debt IMO. I don't believe any state allows credit card debt to go after wages or assets, but not positive.

F them, if they hadn't got so GD greedy, all those mortgages wouldn't be upside down. Not like your friend did anything to get upside, the stinking mortgage companies should deal with all debt they created. And I think CC card companies should also take the ding when they knowingly extend too much credit.

Note - this is my opinion, not advise, and surely check with an attorney for actual advise.

many states credit card companies and collection agencies can, and do, go after wages and assets. They usually have to get a court judgement, but that is not nearly as difficult as it should be. And then they can seize assets and garnishee wages.

Retirement money, whether a pension or Social Security, is exempt from any legal attempt to recover debts. If someone's only source of money is SS or their pension, and they do not have other assets, they are judgement proof. No one except the federal government can take somebody's SS or retirement. So, if you default on student loans, the feds could come after your SS, but not for consumer debt.

MT, since your friend has already given up on the house, he might want to looked into debt laws in his state. And if he has no other assets that he needs to protect, well, I agree with Scott, he may well be better off just defaulting on everything, the house and the credit cards. Keep paying on the car if he needs the car. After 7 years the defaults will come off his credit report.

He is here so he can have a job. And it is a VA loan. I guess the rescued banks have to take back underwater VA houses that can't sold for what is owed. All sorts of necessary paperwork must be filed though showing that the home was adequately on the market. He got two decent offers too before the squatters moved in, they did not pay what was owed in full though but they were substantial offers, and the bank refused them. I'm not sure exactly how long someone has to have the home up for sale before they can apply for the give back, but he is at that point now and they don't return his phone calls or when he does get through somehow all of his paperwork is lost and they ask him to send it to them as if he never did, three different times.

And one of the gifts I am giving myself is that for all of today I will not pay any attention to the GOP primary. I don't care who wins in Florida. I wouldn't vote for any of them. All they do is p!ss me off. So, no Mitt, no Newt, no Rick, no Ron, not any of them.

I would be remiss if I did not also acknowledge those who share my birthday. My favorites among them are Jackie Robinson, Ernie Banks, Nolan Ryan (as a pitcher, not an owner), and Thomas Merton. Is it any wonder I love baseball and, as a student of eastern philosophy, I found my way from Catholicism to Buddhism?

You will enjoy just about everything you do, whether work or play. It is just that kind of day. Most things will come easily. Have a party and just be you. This is the perfect time for imagination and creativity when it comes to ideas and thinking. This, coupled with the ability to put your thoughts into words, allows you to spellbind others. Go to that special someone and say that you love him or her; you will not be rebuffed. There is tremendous mental energy now--take care to avoid being temperamental. If you channel this energy, you can be very influential. There are indications that you are very artistic and should try your hand at some artistic endeavor. You impress people in positive ways through your communication. Why not try art as well?

Hope you have a great day, and that it's the beginning of a great year!

if I'm going its gonna be a last minute somebody got an extra or scalp deal.

Sacrificing Further at the Beacon too...the things you do for love and foreign adventure. Though on the off chance I come home with some cashish it might happen...put my finger in the air.

And I'm just gonna have to allow myself one hermitude reprieve for Steve Wynn & the Miracle 3 at The Bowery Electric 2/24...great venue, better tunes, and only 12 bucks. Just get tuned up before I go to avoid a big bar tab is all;)

Yes, a Cubs' World Series win would be an excellent gift this year. It would go so nicely with the Ducks' Rose Bowl victory earlier this month. Anybody have Theo Epstein's phone number? Can you please tell him to get on the stick and put together a winning team?

Tonight's plans include dinner with old friends during which I will enjoy one or two nicely chilled and dry Bombay Sapphire martinis.

Interesting new factoid. I read somewhere that coconut water, the latest craze that's sweeping the nation, is an excellent cure for the common hangover. I don't plan to over-indulge,but still, knowledge is power.

I have to say, I loved it. It is a bit smoother than Sapphire, not quite as much bite on the back end. Great mouth feel. It was a great choice for a martini, and would be good just served on the rocks by itself.

TL martini drinkers, give Aviation a try, and let me know what you think. It is Made In America.

has cited the NDAA in a brief opposing habeas for a Guantanamo detainee?

Let's hope (there's that word again...) that no one ever gives Mutt Romney or any other republican president/administration the power to do that. It would be far worse than the Obama Administration doing it, or so I'm repeatedly assured. :-/

And no, that's not a typo. Excuse me, I have to go bang my head against the doorjamb, again.

someplace to give to you for finally dealing with your irrational hidden agenda of Hillary love/Obama hatred. Because I know that if Hillary was doing all this as President, you would be throwing a party in her honor to celebrate it :)

just couldn't wait to take the new and improved NDAA out for a spin on some of its most troublesome legal matters - and by "troublesome," I don't mean "a dangerous member of al Qaeda and the Taliban," but "a person we've been holding for years, who was tortured by American forces in the Dark Prison, transferred to Bagram and tortured some more, before being shipped to Guantanamo where harsh and coercive conditions persisted, has been deemed to not be dangerous or a threat to the US but whom we nonetheless want to keep holding, possibly forever."

For what? Fun? Or because we can, and we want to be able to establish an official, court-approved precedent, so we can keep doing it, whenever we want to?

That kind of troublesome.

Is there anyone is his or her right mind who would ever have guessed that we'd have a Democratic president not just supporting this kind of policy, but designing it?

One by one, this president is normalizing and codifying policy that Democrats used to oppose with every fiber of their being; my fibers still feel that way, but a lot of other people's fibers have virtually disappeared - and all it took was a lousy little (D) after someone's name to do it.

Ok, let's watch the shoot the Cenk Uygur messenger strawmen and diversions roll here in the comments while the "Devastating Obama Memos" are dismissed as "Obama hate", and Oh! Hey! Look over there! Republicans!

Cenk worked through the memos, pointing out time and again that those of us who were skeptical about all the PPUS were, by golly, right.

Obama was, and remains apparently, out of his depth, suffering from fevered dreams of a mythical political world where we all get along and Republicans respond to the milk of bipartisan kindness with grateful smiles.

I guess there is some value in being proven right, but I've got to say, I would have been very happy to have been proven wrong about Obama.

With regard to Cenk's take, I kept waiting for it to dawn on him that maybe, just maybe, this wasn't about Obama's ineffectiveness, or about his being easily led by his advisors, but about Obama being more comfortable with conservative ideas and approaches and memes. I wanted to ask Cenk, "why do you think Obama surrounded himself with an economic team that was rooted in the old-boy network, protective of the banks and Wall Street and conservative in their ideas?"

And the anecdote about Steve Jobs coming away from a meeting with Obama puzzled because, while he thought Obama was smart, all he seemed to want to offer were reasons why he couldn't get things done? Cenk spent 26 minutes relating all of the those reasons that Lizza uncovered in the memos - and as Cenk pointed out, not really in a bad way - Lizza bought into the excuses, apparently (I will know more when I read it) - and at some point, while Cenk was 16 kinds of frustrated, he kind of did, too.

Poor President Obama: all he's done is listen to his advisors, try to bring people together and end the partisan bickering, right?

Hope is still alive in the hearts of progressives everywhere as they desperately cling to the idea of the beleaguered-and-frustrated-president theory, instead of facing the truth that people with a progressive/liberal world view don't surround themselves with conservatives and authoritarians unless, well, they're, you know, not progressive and not even in the same zip code as "liberal."

Sitting and watching & listening to what every single human on earth knows (except for ABG, Christine, and MKS) realizing I've morphed into a lobotomized chipmunk, wanting to hit the pause button, but once into it, simply couldn't.

And yet, he's got Air Force One at his beck and call, and will for another four years.

are for absentee voters, right? You don't "present" ID to pick up the ballot. They are mailed. And your "dead people" red herring is just that. They didn't approach dead people, they went to real voters. Mandatory ID would not have prevented this in any way.

Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said in prepared testimony that an alleged Iranian plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador in Washington that was uncovered last year reflects an aggressive new willingness within the upper ranks of the Islamist republic to authorize attacks against the United States.

Intelligence shows that Iran received foreign assistance to overcome key hurdles in acquiring technology that could lead to a nuclear weapon, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency.

That plot "shows that some Iranian officials -- probably including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei -- have changed their calculus and are now more willing to conduct an attack in the United States in response to real or perceived U.S. actions that threaten the regime," Clapper said in the testimony, which was submitted to the Senate Intelligence Committee in advance of a threat assessment hearing Tuesday. "We are also concerned about Iranian plotting against U.S. or allied interests overseas."

Question:
"What do you think it means that Iran seems to have its first nuclear fuel rod?"

Reply:
"Well, of course, the religious leaders of Iran have sworn on their word of honor that they're not going to manufacture nuclear weapons. If they are lying, then I don't see that as a major catastrophe because they'll only have one or two military weapons. Israel probably has 300 or so."

Pardo, and his predecessor, Meir Dagan, are politicians as well as gumshoes. You don't come into the U.S. and before an open Senate Committee, tell the folks who give them billions, and are itching for a fight that they don't think the threat is big enough to warrant an attack.

But, who knows, we're all guessing. The Mossad chiefs didn't say there's no chance of a nuclear Iran. Just that odds weren't high enough to warrant an attack.

But that was a few weeks ago and things can change rapidly, so maybe things have changed. It's just that the war drum beatings almost always bang louder and earlier than the facts that follow.

for all of us to send one or more of our "leaders" a 10 foot pole, accompanied by suggestions for issues to be vigorously touched with said pole, & by illustrated instructions for what to do with said pole if no such issues end up being touched

"It always happens. When Republicans are in charge, we take the gloves off and fiercely attempt to replace them with a Democrat. But when Democrats are in charge, too many liberals take on this too-hip-for-the-room attitude and either criticize the arrangement of the two party system or insist that both sides are evil."

So when Clinton took over this same phenomenon occurred? Carter? LBJ? Kennedy?

I would suggest, perhaps (scratches chin), that as the system has become increasingly corrupt, disgust with that system has risen accordingly. The idea, however, that there is some powerful liberal bloc that chronically throughout our history has locked itself in blind cynicism, thus rendering change impossible (as the logical extension of the characterization leads to), is really comical.

The truth remains: most corporate money with any brains plays both sides of the political fence ultimately -- it hedges its bets, you know this. Whomever wins, they win. It's an old game. Does that mean the parties are identical twins? Of course not, but in too many key respects they are at that level. And that renders the system as a whole all but unworkable for everyday people, as we see now.

one option: that of consistently holding the president's feet to the fire on policy grounds, as many here at TL try to do

the behavior Cesca describes is that of people who rightly excoriated George W. Bush for his policies but now have nothing to say except "Both sides are evil" while the Bush's policies are extended & enhanced by Barack Obama